Unit research · Colorado GMU 161

GMU 161 — Colorado

75% public across 261,039 ac. Road access is easy — only 24% of the public land is more than a mile from a road. Almost none of the public land is landlocked.

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Deer draw odds (4)Elk draw odds (3)Pronghorn draw odds (2)Odds and pins: free, no account

GMU 161Full map — ownership, roads, wind →

7,820–12,060 ft

elevation range

75%

public land

24%

of public >1 mi from a road

123 ac

landlocked public

1.28

road miles per mi²

335 mi

maintained trails

Computed from primary government data by the open pipeline. See the code →

Tags & season

Draw hunts on this ground.

9 limited-entry deer, elk and pronghorn hunts are drawn on GMU 161: apply in the Colorado draw, by the agency's deadline below.

Deer tag · 4 draw hunts (2026)$60.18 resident · $518.41 nonresident

Elk tag · 3 draw hunts (2026)$79.33 resident · $856.65 nonresident

Pronghorn tag · 2 draw hunts (2026)$60.18 resident · $518.41 nonresident

Plus: Qualifying license (annual small game, cheapest adult route)$38.49 resident · $104.86 nonresident

Season dates: see Colorado Parks & Wildlife's regulations

2026 Colorado Big Game brochure (rev. 2026-03-18) ↗

Colorado Parks & Wildlife — licenses and tags ↗Draw odds for Colorado deer →Draw odds for Colorado elk →Draw odds for Colorado pronghorn →How the Colorado draw works →

Fees and draw dates from Colorado Parks & Wildlife, 2026, verified 2026-08-05 — past its verify-by date, confirm with the agency. Tag type from the agency's published draw statistics: a gmu that appears in none of them has no limited-entry hunt we know of. Source: 2026 Colorado Big Game brochure (rev. 2026-03-18) · CPW primary draw · CPW refunds, reversals and exchanges · Chapter W-2 (2 CCR 406-2), approved 2025-05-07.

Land & access

■ USFS 40%■ BLM 26%■ SFW 8%□ Private 25%

Unit area261,039 ac

Public land194,589 ac (75%)

Landlocked public123 ac (0.1%)

Deer draw pressure0.41 tags/mi² public (0.31 of total area)

Elk draw pressure0.49 tags/mi² public (0.36 of total area)

Pronghorn draw pressure0.18 tags/mi² public (0.13 of total area)

Motorized routes (MVUM + roads)521 mi

Maintained trails335 mi

Backcountry

Public land >1 mi from a road47,029 ac (24% of public)

Road density1.28 mi/mi²

Managed byUSFS 105k ac · BLM 67k ac · SFW 22k ac

Elevation7,820–12,060 ft

Median elevation8,600 ft

Median slope6°

Where the ground sits

7,820 ft12,060 ft

Tap or hover the bars for each elevation band

Slope mix

Which way the slopes face

N 26%

E 32%

S 22%

W 20%

Share of ground steeper than 5° — flat ground has no facing

North slopes hold shade, cover and snow; south slopes open first.

USGS 3DEP 1 arc-second (30 m), slope at native resolution in a local metric projection, sampled on a 200 m grid. See the code →

Unit intelligence report

39,036 ac of this gmu has burned — 15% of the unit. The full report assembles it into one printable document and keeps it current as the facts change.

Open the report →

Season conditions — measured, not vibes

Historical temperatures · 2000–2025

Normals for 2000–2025 — tap or hover for a month

Measured at LARAMIE REGIONAL AIRPORT, 87 km from the unit’s center and ~1,300 ft below its median elevation — expect the unit to run colder. NOAA ISD-Lite hourly observations.

Harvest — agency survey estimates

Elk · 2024

11% success

318 taken by 2,888 hunters · 15,319 days afield

114 bulls · 179 cows · 26 calves

Elk hunter success · 2019–2024 · 11% → 11%

Season breakdown · 2024

Season	Success	Harvest	Hunters
1st rifle	13%	68	538
2nd rifle	6%	40	662
3rd rifle	13%	75	566
4th rifle	15%	31	198
Archery	10%	74	730
Muzzleloader	7%	9	126

Which season is the value play here — same ground, different odds.

Deer · 2024

28% success

70 taken by 249 hunters · 1,309 days afield

70 bucks (bucks only) · 0 fawns

Deer hunter success · 2019–2024 · 42% → 28%

Season breakdown · 2024

Season	Success	Harvest	Hunters
Archery	27%	15	57
Muzzleloader	33%	14	42

Which season is the value play here — same ground, different odds.

Pronghorn · 2024

71% success

120 taken by 169 hunters · 492 days afield

64 bucks · 50 does · 6 fawns

Pronghorn hunter success · 2019–2024 · 70% → 71%

Season breakdown · 2024

Season	Success	Harvest	Hunters
Archery	44%	22	51
Muzzleloader	61%	29	48

Which season is the value play here — same ground, different odds.

Herd-level estimates · 95% CI

deer · DAU D-3 · 2025: 342 harvested (CI 312–374) · 38% success

elk · DAU E-3 · 2025: 1,068 harvested (CI 952–1,198) · 9% success

pronghorn · DAU A-3 · 2025: 310 harvested (CI 295–325) · 73% success

CPW’s stratified-survey estimates for the whole herd unit (DAU) this GMU belongs to — published with the uncertainty the per-GMU tables can’t carry.

CPW estimates harvest, hunters, success and recreation days from its Big Game Harvest Survey. Unit tables run 2019-2024; the 2025 report switched to per-hunt-code tables without unit totals, so unit series end at 2024 and 2025 success rates appear on the draw-odds tables instead. Source: CPW Statewide Harvest Estimates (per species-year PDFs on the species statistics pages).

How these numbers are made

public_land_pct = public_area / unit_area
landlocked = public ∖ reachable(roads, corners)
remote = public ∖ buffer(roads, 1 mi)
# AGPL — read the pipeline →

Computed, not curated: no paid research team, no opinions dressed as data. If a number looks wrong, file an issue — the fix ships for everyone.

Nearby GMUs

GMU 1652% public · 21% remote GMU 1486% public · 46% remote GMU 668% public · 8% remote GMU 560% public · 9% remote GMU 21424% public · 22% remote GMU 1763% public · 9% remote

Ready to scout it?

Everything on this page, live on the map — ownership, boundaries, roads, and your own waypoints.

Open GMU 161 in the map